


take me to the feeling

by peculiarblue



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Fluff, Late Night Conversations, Love at First Sight, Stargazing, i love these idiots, yeah its just fun and sappy idk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:55:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24152431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peculiarblue/pseuds/peculiarblue
Summary: gina meets a stranger at a party she doesn't want to be at, and let's herself fall in love for the night, wherever it takes them
Relationships: Ricky Bowen/Gina Porter
Comments: 10
Kudos: 60





	take me to the feeling

**Author's Note:**

> on today's installment of 'what out-dated, cheesy pop song can katie write a fluff fic about'...
> 
> but seriously this song has been stuck in my head since i started writing this it's both a blessing and a curse. it's a little different than what i'm used to, but whatever! it just proves ricky and gina are that powerful in any timeline i stick them in! that being said, i literally had SO much fun writing this, so big thanks to the rina book club on twitter for making this happen, and happy rina week!! 
> 
> **NOTE: characters are aged up and the opening scene is set in a college party, so there are mentions of alcohol/drinking**
> 
> story and title from: "run away with me" by carly rae jepsen!

**_I wanna go, get out of here, I'm sick of the party,_ **

**_I'd run away with you_ ** **__**

_Lower your expectations_. It’s what Carlos had sung in her ear before pushing a red solo cup to her chest and running off with a skip in his step.

Oh, to be young and in love at a college frat party with the lowest of expectations.

Gina doesn’t like saying she doesn’t like parties. Because she _does_. Truly. But the routine gets monotonous when the music is always loud and her drink is always strong and her expectations are always—

“Hi!”

“Ashlyn Caswell, I know that look,” Gina falls back, leaning her stance against the hallway wall she’d been clinging to since they’d arrived, “Up to no good, as usual.”

“Why do you have to say it like that?” Her best friend and roommate joins her, shoulders bumping, an exaggerated pout on her lips, “I just came to ask you to come do a shot with me and Los. No trouble.”

“See, I just saw him with a beer so I know that’s not true,” Gina smirks, tilting her head down closer to Ashlyn to make conversation over the booming music.

“I just wanna do a shot with my best friend! I like doing shots!”

“No one _likes_ doing shots, Ash.”

“Fine, there’s a pretty girl standing by the handle,” Ashlyn elbows Gina in the side, “Is that better?”

“Would it have been so hard to just tell me that in the first place?”

“Yes, because then you would have said no.”

“You don’t know that…”

“Wanna come help me talk to the pretty girl, Gina?”

“No.”

Gina brings her cup to her lips to hide her giggle from Ashlyn’s glare.

“I just don’t see why you have to talk to the pretty girl here, under the cheap LED lights when you can barely hear yourself think!”

“That’s the point! I _don’t wanna_ hear myself think because if I was thinking about it then I’d never talk to her!” Ashlyn grabs one of Gina’s hands and pulls her down the hallway, “We can’t all live in Gina Porter’s magic fantasy romance land!”

“Were all the adjectives there necessary?”

“Oh my _god_!”

“By the time we get there now, she’ll probably be gone,” Gina teases over Ashlyn’s shoulder as she lets herself be pulled through the masses of college students filling the path to the kitchen.

“Then me and you will just take a shot because we _like_ taking shots!” Ashlyn turns her head to stick her tongue out at Gina before continuing their weave.

“Tell that lie one more time and I swear to god I will not drink anything.”

“You are the reason _romance is dead_ , Gina Porter!” Ashlyn yells just as she shimmies them up to the countertop in the center of the crowded kitchen. She eases up on her tippy toes and Gina peers over her friend’s shoulder to watch her pour the clear liquid into two new empty cups.

“That was more than a shot.”

“No, its not, that’s _barely_ a shot.”

“I think it’s more than a shot.”

“I thought you weren’t drinking, huh?”

“We’ll now I’m not, since you’re trying to poison me with what is clearly more than a shot.”

“Oh my god it’s not—”

“It’s more than a shot.”

Gina jumps at the sound of the voice behind her, so clear and smooth and assured amidst all the chaos. She turns, cup in hand, to see its owner smiling down at her.

He lifts one eyebrow slowly and points to the rim of Gina’s cup when she remains silent, “Don’t look at me like that, I’m on _your_ side!”

He’s tall, long legs and a loose tan sweatshirt that hangs on his shoulders. His left sneaker is untied and the ring on his right hand looks too tight and he’s staring right at her, all doe eyed and wonderful and she’s _sure,_ absolutely _positive_ they’ve gotten new LED lights in here since the last party because. Hell. That smile.

If this is what Carlos meant, Gina wishes she’d lowered her expectations a _long_ time ago.

"So what _is_ a shot then, Einstein?” Ashlyn asks their new guest. Gina’s glad Ashlyn breaks the silence for her because she can’t stop _staring_ , her mind is so fuzzy and the alcohol is still all in her cup.

“I don’t like that nickname,” he snickers at Ashlyn, but steps forward, implying he’ll supply an answer anyway. He nods towards Gina’s cup, “May I?”

“Oh, sure,” Gina mumbles, holding the cup out to him.

He squints, his tongue peeking out the corner of his lip in the utmost concentration and Gina feels her stomach flip. Alcohol still in the cup. Yup.

“Right here, can you see? This line?” The boy holds the cup closer to Ashlyn, his finger pointing to the small divot at the bottom of the cup, “That’s a shot. And you, my friend, have gone to about…” He lets the word drawl as he slides his finger up, comically slow, “Here.”

“She’s going through a heartbreak right now,” Gina teases, her confidence slowly coming back to her, “Came here to drink with a pretty girl and well, we got here and…” Gina gestures around their space with one hand, “No pretty girl in sight.”

“Well, that’s just not true.”

Gina’s jaw audibly drops.

Ashlyn puffs an incredulous laugh over one of Gina’s shoulders as she walks out from behind her, “Okay, Romeo,” she pats her cup into Gina’s empty hands as she says it, but her eyes twinkling directly at the boy, “At least one of us can drink with a pretty girl.”

Gina grips the cup tightly and raises her eyebrows in silent prayer for Ashlyn to snap out of whatever she’s doing and _come back here, dammit_. Because now she can see his badly highlighted hair, the way one curl flops over his forehead like a boy in her romance novels and his eyes crinkle around the edges when he smiles and now his eyelashes are fluttering. Really. She can’t make this kind of stuff up.

She almost reaches out to touch him, make sure he’s real. But she doesn’t. Just takes a big deep breath as Ashlyn animatedly jumps around behind the boy in her excitement. She waves Gina on with a thumbs up and promises of a trip to Gina Porter’s magic fantasy romance land before getting lost in the crowd of the living room.

“Can I be completely honest?” Gina says, willing her eyelashes to flutter even a fraction as mesmerizing as his.

“You didn’t come here to drink with a pretty girl?”

Gina laughs brightly, the drink swishing around in her cup, “I just don’t really like this stuff.”

“God, does _anyone_?” He balks, peering into is cup with a dramatic twisted lip that makes Gina feel like lightheaded.

“That’s exactly what I said!”

“Really, you don’t come here for the quality, you come because—”

“What else is there do on a Friday night?”

“When all your friends are here?”

“Wow,” Gina sighs, saluting her cup towards the boy and their successful sentence ping-pong, “Finally, someone who gets it.”

“One day I’ll say screw it and run away from one of these dumb parties,” he smiles, shrugging his shoulders, “But until then, I’d really hate to let your friend down.”

Gina’s always been a bright girl. She knows there’s nothing special about this moment, about the way she’s feeling right now. Because the inexplicable pull he has, the way his every little movement draws her to him, can be easily explained away. The kitchen is crowded and a group of people walking by push her forward, closer to him. The music’s loud and they’re having a conversation, it’s instinct to lean up, to hear him better. He’s just a guy, she could’ve bumped into anyone in here, and she pre-gamed with Los and Ash so everything’s heightened.

But maybe for once, she believes, theirs is really is a story the world wants to be told.

Something in her chest is pulling her towards him, and so for the night, she lets herself lean. No expectations.

“So, you got a name, or are we gonna stick with Einstein?” Gina rests on hand on the countertop on her right, drumming her fingers and leaning into his orbit, mesmerized.

“I said I didn’t like that one!”

“And Romeo was better?”

“Much better,” and then the boy leans too, his left hand hovering next to Gina’s at their side. He smirks, “You know, not to brag, but I got a B- on my paper on him in English Lit last semester.”

“You sure you don’t want me to call you Einstein?”

“Well if you did, then what would I call you, huh?”

Gina bites her bottom lip, eyes tracing over the curve of his jaw and the loose grip he still has on his red cup, before she answers lightly, “So in this scenario, _I’m_ Juliet?”

“If I’m lucky.”

Oh, to be young and in love at a college frat party with Shakespearian expectations.

“Well then,” Gina lifts her cup, signaling him to join her.

“What are we drinking to?” He taps the lip of his cup to hers, eyes wide and glowing under the crappy blue LED lights, and it’s making Gina’s mind swim.

“To Medieval English tragedy,” Gina blinks once before tossing back the clear liquid. She shakes her head, curls bouncing as she winces, “And the fact that _I_ got an A- on that paper.”

“Oh my god,” the boy gapes, slamming his empty cup next to their hands, still barely touching on the counter, “I don’t know what was more painful, that shot or the blow to my ego.”

“Guess I’ll really have to stick with Romeo,” she smirks, stepping even closer to his body. He smells like convenience store cologne and fruit punch and honestly, it’s glorious.

Gina sighs a deep breath as she takes him in, lets herself fall. And believes there is something pulling him to her too.

“Okay screw it, let’s go.”

“What?” She asks, eyes wide as the boy squares himself to her, a giddy hop bouncing in his shoulders.

“I’ve always wanted to do it, so let’s just do it,” he shakes his head, eyes shining, “Let’s run away.”

“Oh, so you’re taking this Romeo thing very seriously.”

“Look, I know it’s gonna sound crazy, so you don’t have to but...” he sighs, his toes tapping against hers on the sticky kitchen floor, “But I feel like I’ve known you forever. And I don’t even know your name!”

“You’re crazy,” she says, even though it betrays what she feels with every fiber of her being, like she _knows_ him too. It’s a college frat party. She can still taste the cheap alcohol and there’s two people making out in the corner and she’s only here because she had nothing better to do. She’s not Juliet and he’s not Romeo.

But maybe they can be Romeo and Juliet.

“Okay, you know what? Yeah, fuck it,” she takes the plunge, grabs his hand that’s been resting next to hers so gently and tugs him towards the kitchen doorway.

“Oh my god, really? We’re really gonna do this?”

“Didn’t you want to?”

“No yeah, I really really did, but you’re like _, smart_ ,” she turns back to see him looking at her, eyes all awestruck and endearing as they weave through the crowds of people, “Usually I speak and no one listens.”

“Well, _I’m_ listening,” Gina flashes a smile at him before continuing their exit, “This party sucks and you’re the first person to ever agree with me on that, so I say we do it. Run away.”

“Screw pretty, you are…” he trails off, skidding to a stop in front of the front door. He takes her in, and incredulous smile breaking out across his face, “You’re gorgeous.”

“I’m Gina.”

“Juliet,” he nods, squeezing her hand before bringing it up to his lips, and placing a gentle kiss on her knuckles. She’s not sure how she doesn’t melt into the floor at the action, so quaint and simple in the midst of all this crowded bustle.

She lets her hand linger in his, pushing the door open with her free one, “After you…”

“Ricky.”

“Romeo.”

**_'Cause you make me feel like_ ** **__**

**_I could be driving you all night_ **

“Oh my god!”

“Slow down, you’re gonna fall!”

“I will with _that_ attitude!” Ricky bounds down the first sidewalk past the part house with an energy Gina’s never seen in anyone before, giddy and infectious, careful to step over the crack between each square because, and Gina quotes, ‘my mother would be even more of a bitch with a broken back’. Gina laughs and lets him reach back for her hand again.

She almost trips to keep up with him, “You’re crazy.”

“So you’ve said, but you’re still running away with me.”

“I am,” she notices the twinkle in his eyes, and thinks running aside, it was overall a good decision, “I didn’t think we’d literally be running though.”

“It’s _freedom_ , Gina, that’s the only way to do it,” he turns to face her, his run slowed to a jog as he tries to do it backwards, “Breathe it in, soak it up.”

She makes a show of taking a dramatically large deep breath to please him, and his laughter only echoes louder. What a crime, she thinks, to have kept this boy’s laughter bottled up in that house.

“Where are we going?”

“To the stars!”

“You’ve got a thing for Leo, huh?”

“I mean, _I have eyes_ ,” he winks, “But seriously, there’s somewhere I wanna take you.”

“Okay,” she smiles, giggling again because neither of them has really been able to stop since they’ve left, “But we’re gonna circle back to the Leo thing eventually.”

“Gina, right now I’ve only got eyes for you.”

“And the stars.”

“Not as pretty,” he shrugs, then hops off the edge of the sidewalk and jogs into the street.

Gina isn’t sure if the color on her cheeks is from blushing or yelling at his stupidity. It doesn’t seem like a distinction she needs to readily make. Not when he keeps giggling like that.

“Ricky, _what_ are you doing?”

“Relax, there’s no cars out this late at night,” he tiptoes on the yellow lines of the street, left arm outstretched to where Gina mirrors, safely on the sidewalk, “Don’t you trust me?”

“Surprisingly, yeah?”

“So…” and the look he gives her could send her to any star in the sky, “Let’s run away, Juliet.”

“You’re lucky I _really_ hated that party,” she says, but her smile betrays her as she steps into the street, onto the yellow line at Ricky’s left. She walks toe to heel, their giggles bubbling between them, “Stop laughing!”

“You started it!”

“Yeah, because you look like you’ve never met a hairbrush.”

“Ouch,” he clings a hand to his chest, wobbles on one foot like the yellow line he’s walking on is a tightrope, a hundred feet in the air. Gina’s sure the feeling in her chest means it’s not pretty far off, “You know my face not my story, Gina.”

“What should we know about each other?”

“The deep stuff,” he says, voice soft and smooth in the late-night air.

“The deep stuff?” She nods, leans into his space, “Okay, what do you wanna know?”

“Anything,” he hums, “Everything.”

“So ask me anything,” Gina shoves her hands in her pockets, Ricky still using his outstretched to make a show of trying to balance on the line, “I’m an open book.”

“Really?”

“For you, sure,” she kicks at the gravel under her feet, suddenly very fascinated with it.

“Okay, I’ll start easy,” he smiles, “Why are you here?”

Gina purses her lips and answers, “I’m majoring in—”

“No, no that’s a boring answer!”

“Well, that’s my life,” she laughs, nudging his shoulder, “I hate to break it to you, but we’re not actually star-crossed lovers.”

“Then tell me what Juliet is majoring in.”

She scoffs loudly, gapes at him under the flickering streetlights of the empty road leading back to the front of their college campus, and considers raising her expectations just a bit.

“Um, okay,” her smile creases the skin around her eyes, and the feeling is wonderful, “Juliet is going to become a pastry chef.”

“Oh?”

“Yup, and she’ll own a quaint little bakery, on the edge of a city, where they serve really strong coffee and have those hanging plants in the windows,” she says, her hands narrating animatedly, “What about you?”

“Well, Ricky is undecided. But Romeo,” his giggle bounces across her shoulder, “Romeo drops out of college to become a musician.”

“Wow.”

“Skips town, just him and his guitar. And a dog,” he nods, his eyes squinted shut in mock concentration that just keeps Gina laughing, “Yeah, a dog. And the music thing isn’t going so great at the moment, but one day they find this tiny bakery and book a gig.”

“A bakery, huh?”

“Yeah, gig doesn’t pay well but he keeps coming back, hoping one day he’ll woo the pretty girl behind the counter.”

“Next question,” Gina bites at her bottom lip as they continue walking.

“Your turn.”

“Hmm,” she hums, looks at him out of the corner of her eye and almost falls off their yellow line balance beam, “Favorite color.”

“Now you’re just _trying_ to make me mad.”

“It doesn’t have to be boring!” She justifies, “Like, yeah, if you say your favorite color is blue.”

“I like blue.”

“Instead, you could say your favorite color is blue, but the color blue behind the clouds after it rains.”

“That’s not a thing.”

“Sure it is,” she points, chin up to the sky, “It’s gonna rain tomorrow morning, you’ll see.”

“Well if you want me to come up with something that poetic you’ll need to give me a minute,” he laughs lightly, “B-, remember?”

“You can do it, Einstein,” she whispers teasingly, “Just think of a time of day you like, and make it a color.”

He sits on it a bit, the noisy quiet of the night washing over them.

“Okay, green. But it’s summer, you’re walking back from the ice cream place with your best friend,” he says, “And it’s hot, so your mint chocolate chip ice cream starts melting down the side of the cone. Melted ice cream cone green.”

“Okay, I’m actually having a good time with you right now, so I’m gonna ignore the fact that you get mint chocolate chip ice cream.”

“Woah, what’s wrong with mint chocolate chip ice cream?”

“Everything, Ricky, everything,” she shakes her head, shoulder bumping his, “Please tell me Romeo likes something better…”

“Romeo doesn’t eat ice cream,” he says, eyes bright, “Only sweets he eats are cupcakes from Juliet’s bakery.”

“Alright, good answer,” she smiles and turns back to face the road, “Your turn, lover boy.”

**_I'll be your sinner, in secret_ ** **__**

**_When the lights go out_ ** **__**

“Can you do a cartwheel?”

“What kind of question is that?”

“A good one,” Gina giggles, the leisurely pace finally bringing them towards the front gates of campus. She feels like she’s been with him forever, though their 20-question game couldn’t have been going on for longer than 20 minutes now, “I’m gonna take that as a no.”

“No, no, I can do it,” he insists, his chest puffed up in pride before he hops in front of her. She stares him down with a smirk, “Okay, yeah I can do it.”

“Mhm.”

“Just,” he winces, looks down at the road, his hands stretched up, before he takes a deep breath and plops his hands on the ground, kicking his feet behind him in the worst cartwheel Gina’s ever seen, “Ta da!”

“What was that?”

“A cartwheel!” He jumps back to standing, facing her, shaking out his hands.

“That looked like a spastic game of leap frog.”

“You’re mean!”

“I’m honest!”

“Well, _honestly,_ right now…” Ricky starts looking her up and down, but suddenly his eyes go wide, “Car!”

“What?” Gina knits her eyebrows together, stepping closer to him.

“Car, in the street, coming towards us,” Ricky yells, and without warning, wraps an arm around Gina’s waist and pulls up and towards him off to the side of the road, “Go, go, go!”

“I’m going!” She yells, tripping over her own feet as she runs, still hugged to his side. Within seconds Gina barely had time to count, they’re suddenly tucked around the corner of a brick building, laughter loud and breathless.

“Oh my god,” Rick manages between laughs, his arm still around Gina’s waist.

“Did I not say there was going to be a car?” She says, but it’s not biting, cannot possibly be anything but joyful and bright with the energy between them right now, “I’m not big on ‘to told you so’s but…”

****

**_“_** Shut up,” he nudges her, leans back against the bricks and pulls her with him. They catch their breath, breathing heavily, their laughter not helping their case.

“We’re back on campus now so we have to be quieter,” she hushes him, not really noticing a change, “I’m serious.”

“It’s a Friday night, who cares?”

“Me, probably, if I was in my room like I wanted to be!”

“But aren’t you having so much more fun down here?”

She knocks his shoulder against the brick wall and settles into his grip, “Don’t let it get to your head.”

“Too late,” he shakes his lopsided curls, lets his forehead fall onto hers.

“That tickles,” she squirms, nose scrunching mesmerized by the way he looks so close up, “We didn’t finish our 20 questions.”

Ricky huffs, and it shakes the curl closest to her nose, which only adds to her long list of giggles. The pair of them are a steady stream of giggles for what feels like hours, but couldn’t be more than a few seconds, maybe a minute. Their breaths all mixed up in each other’s, heartbeats mirroring in perfect synchronicity.

Her expectations are nowhere to be found. High, low, whatever. All that exists is her, and this boy she’s sure she was meant to find.

“Where have you been all my life, Gina Porter?”

“You’re gonna use a question on that?”

“You just used one too.”

She’d have thrown caution to the wind and just kissed him, right then and there, laughter still on her lips behind a poorly lit campus building, if it weren’t for her phone buzzing in her back pocket.

“Sorry, let me just,” she reluctantly squirms out of his reach, pulls her phone out and clicks the screen on to see Ashlyn calling her. “Hey Ash, what’s up?”

“ _What’s up_? Seriously?” Her friend yells on the other end of the line, “Where the hell are you?!”

“Um,” Gina bites at her lip, “I left.”

“Dude!”

“It’s fine, I’m with someone,” she whispers, suddenly conscious of how close she and Ricky are still standing. With a breath, she backs away slightly.

“Is that supposed to make me feel better? I am drunk and worried and you just decide to disappear with no warning—”

****

“It’s ‘more than a shot’ guy,” she whispers harshly into her phone, “He’s cool, I swear.”

“Oh my god, you _left_ with him?”

“Not like that, we just wanted to leave.”

“Yeah, and I just wanna leave with this girl I’m talking to.”

“I’m serious, we just cartwheeled in the street and he’s taking me to go stargazing.”

“You’re a shit liar, Gina Porter.”

“I swear!” She yells, forgetting her place until she hears Ricky chuckling to himself beside her, “I mean it, Ash. This is different.”

“You really found a rom-com at a frat party, huh? Leave it to Gina Porter, ever the romantic,” she blushes at her friend’s words, eyes flitting nervously from Ricky’s smile to the ground, “Okay, well I really am leaving with this girl.”

“You found her?”

“Yeah, so shot guy was good for something, I guess,” she says, “We’re going back to her room so… don’t wait up.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“I love you, make good choices, keep your expectations low!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Gina huffs, “Bye, Ashlyn.” She clicks her phone shut and turns back to the boy, his arms crossed over his chest, leaning nonchalantly against the wall, a smug smile on his face.

“You talking about me?”

“No, I wasn’t.”

“Because I think you said I was cool.”

“It wasn’t you,” she shakes her head, not giving up, and neither is her blush.

“So you go cartwheeling in the streets with another guy?” He leans up from his slouched stance and inches towards her, “I see how it is.”

“Yeah, he’s a cool guy, name’s Romeo,” she shrugs, “You know him?”

**_Let's run away_ **

**_I'll run away with you_ ** **__**

“Are we there yet?”

“So impatient,” Ricky smirks back at her, squeezes her hand as he pushes them past a tree, around a bench, “It’s been like, five minutes, tops.”

“I was promised stars!”

“And stars you will get,” he flashes her one last smile before tugging her, heart first, behind a building Gina’s never noticed on campus before.

“Woah,” Gina tears her eyes from him for what feels like the first time all night, and looks up at the sky he’s brought her to. They’re tucked into a corner of campus Gina’s never been to before, and is sure she’d never find if he hadn’t shown it to her. There’s a small green lawn in front of a big gray building, not many trees, a single bench, and a small brick pathway to the door of the building. It feels like another world back here, she doesn’t recognize the loud and busy campus she’d grown to know so intimately. It’s just her and Ricky and the stars. And a weird bronze statue on the far-left corner of someone Gina assumes must have donated the money for the space.

“I know, my feelings exactly,” Ricky says, wandering into the center of the small field of grass.

“Where are we?” Gina asks, eyes following their destination, searching every corner she can see in awe, “Or am I not allowed to know?”

He laughs, kicking at the grass under his toes, hands in his pockets, “Science majors’ lawn, one thing these nerds get right.”

She tries not to look at the way his chin tilted up exposes his jaw, because _holy shit_ , but instead joins him in looking at the stars, breathing steadily, “Since you are decidedly not one of those nerds, how did you manage to find this?”

“I was pre-med for a full semester,” his eyebrows dance in his own self-teasing, “Impressive, I know. But uh, if I learned nothing else from that biology class I almost failed…”

“It’s incredible,” she marvels again into this magical world they’ve stepped into. It’s strange that it’s nothing more than some grass behind a building with a good view of the sky, yet it still feels like magic. There’s something going on here Gina doesn’t understand, but she doesn’t mind. She slips back into his space, giddy and wonderstruck.

“I spent almost every night that semester planning how I was gonna tell my dad I was dropping out, walking back to my dorm at three am with not an ounce of energy in my body, after studying cell parts all night,” he giggles, “All I had to do was look up, and it felt kind of worth it.”

“So you ditched the nerds but kept their spot,” Gina hums.

“They don’t mind, they’re always too busy inside to enjoy the space out here,” Ricky nods towards the front window of the building, a few students huddled at a table right in front, “Besides my best friend Red didn’t drop out so, I still have some sort of connection.”

“Nice of him to lend you his perks.”

“Nicest guy I know,” Ricky says, “And brilliant too. Dude will probably cure cancer before we graduate.”

“Feel like I’m befriending the wrong person out of this duo,” Gina winces, “Acoustic guitar drop out, or science prodigy…”

“Whatever, I know the truth, you _like_ me,” his smile twinkles like a goddamn toothpaste ad, and Gina doesn’t feel like denying it. _She likes him_. “Come on!”

“What are you doing?” She yells lightly, as he rocks back on his heels, then plops to a seat in the center of the grass.

“We’re stargazing!”

“Ricky, we can’t—” she looks around the space frantically, but he just lounges back, stretches his legs out and tucks his hands behind his head, “There’s people right there!”

“I just told you, they don’t care,” he says, “Their noses are so deep in a periodic table right now, they probably haven’t even noticed us.”

“If we get in trouble—”

“We won’t.”

“Because I’ve never been in trouble and I’m not planning on it—”

“Gina,” she looks down and finds hm already looking at her, one arm reaching up. She rolls her eyes and grabs it, lets him pull her down. She almost falls right onto his chest with the momentum, but catches herself, a hand by the opposite side of his head and her chest over his.

“Hey.”

“Hi there.”

“Wanna look at the stars now?”

“Hm?”

“Stars,” Ricky’s eyebrows bounce up, and she can feel his breath fan over her face, “They’re up there, last I checked.”

Gina finally realizes she hasn’t moved from where she fell, almost completely on top of him and looking directly down at the eyes that still shine like they’re surrounded by neon party lights. Suddenly flustered, she apologizes and rolls off him swiftly.

“Sorry,” she fixes her hair and finds a spot on the grass next to him, “So, do you know anything about astronomy?”

“Nope,” the word sounding with a little pop, “You?”

“Nothing.”

“We make a pretty shitty pair of star-crossed lovers.”

“That’s not what that means.”

“Still,” he shrugs, the grass rustling under his shoulders, “Like, that’s the Big Dipper. That’s all I got.”

“That’s not the Big Dipper.”

“You don’t know that.”

“That’s one star,” she laughs, tucking her knees up more comfortably, her fingers drumming on her stomach as the cool night air washes over them, “You need at least like, three for a constellation.”

“Okay, so there, that one, and then that one over there,” Ricky points up at the sky, “I’m gonna name it the Big Line.”

“The Big Line?”

“Like the Big Dipper, but only two stars so,” he says, like it’s obvious, “It’s a _Big Line_.”

“You are not real,” she laughs, rolling her head away from him, just to turn it right back within seconds, like she cannot bear not having him in her field of vision a moment longer, “At least give it like, an astronomy sounding name.”

“What’s an ‘astrology sounding’ name?”

“I don’t know, like…” she trails off, her fingers playing with the hem of her shirt, “Something that sounds magical.”

“You want me to name a star Harry Potter?”

“Shut up.”

“That one right there,” he nudges her, pointing to something sparkling in the sky, “That’s gonna be Ron Weasley.”

“That’s an airplane, Ricky.”

“Don’t call Ron a mean word like that!”

“It’s moving!”

“It’s a shooting star,” he reasons, their laughter filling all the available space in the small courtyard, “He’s playing quidditch.”

“It just blinked, Ricky,” her head falls onto his shoulder, laughter twisting at her stomach and pulling at her smile, “It’s an airplane.”

“Don’t worry Ron, I’ll never let go!”

“Can we come back to the Leo thing yet, or…”

“Alright, alright,” he says, pushing his giggles away, their breaths steadying, and she can feel his fingers ghosting over hers, itching to hold on, “I’ve got it.”

“Let’s hear this one,” she winks, “Oughta be good.”

“Forget the Big Line,” he whispers, “That one over there is Romeo…”

Gina follows where his hand moves, all the way to the right of the sky, then traces a line, a _big line_ , across the sky to a second little light, right above Gina’s nose.

“…and that is Juliet.”

She’s so busy staring up at the stars that she almost doesn’t notice he’s not looking up there with her, his head turned and eyes resting on her face. She breathes out, finally facing him, their noses bumping softly.

“Well don’t they look cute up there, our star-crossed lovers in the stars.”

****

****

****

****

****

****

**_And I'll find your lips in the street lights_ **

**_I wanna be there with you_ ** **__**

****

****

Gina isn’t sure how long they spend there, wrapped up in their laughter and bad stargazing and unspoken feelings. Every time he smiles, _which is often_ , it pulls at something Gina didn’t even know could move, makes her feel warm and fuzzy in the cool and quiet.

They’re walking through the campus aimlessly, not really sure which direction to go. Gina doesn’t think she could find her way back home if she tried, every thought consumed by him and his presence. And every step they take his pinky brushes past hers, not quite touching but definitely still contact, so she’s a lost cause, honestly.

“So, what’s the verdict?” Ricky tilts his chin down to her as they round another corner, “Was it worth it?”

“Would definitely recommend running away from sweaty frat parties,” Gina says, “But the company…”

****

“Gina!”

“What? I told you I was gonna be honest with you tonight,” she swings her hands at her sides sweetly, clasps them behind her back.

“Mhm,” Ricky smiles anyway, “The next time I see you, when I find you at the next party and you ask me to aid your escape, I want you to know I’m gonna say ‘I told you so’, just so you’re prepared.”

“What if I don’t want the next time you see me to be at a party?”

He almost stops in the middle of the sidewalk, just to let his happiness catch up to him, “Really?”

“I mean, I heard it was supposed to rain tomorrow,” she sighs.

“Your favorite color, the blue behind the clouds after it rains.”

“Yup, which _you_ said didn’t exist,” she feels daring, unclasps her hands and wraps one around his instead, “And you know I cannot resist a good ‘I told you so’ moment.”

“I’ll listen to you prove me wrong any day, Gina.”

“I was making a joke and you had to get all sappy,” she pretends to shake off his sweetness, but can’t quell the way it swirls and swoops in her stomach, “Can’t take you anywhere.”

“I wanna hang out with you tomorrow, in the rain,” he ignores her, bouncing on his toes as they walk, reminiscent of a puppy, “In case that was not clear.”

“No yeah, I got that,” she smiles, then alludes to their first conversation wistfully, “I feel like I’ve known you forever, too.”

“I know you make fun of me for being a sap, but I’ve already heard it all from all my friends, so I don’t care,” he says, “I really believe we might be star-crossed lovers.”

“Dude, again that’s not what star-crossed means—”

“I wasn’t even supposed to be at that party tonight,” he continues on, a passion lacing his voice as his fingers lace between hers, “And when I finally got roped into going, I swore I was only gonna stay for like an hour, tops. But on my way to tell my friend I was leaving, she asked me to talk with this pretty girl she saw walking towards the kitchen for her.”

“Seriously?”

“She texted me about three minutes after your friend called you, back after the car incident that she was leaving with someone named Ashlyn so…” he shrugs, “Something out there wanted us to find each other. Even if our friends are the star-crossed lovers here and not us, we still had to find each other to make it happen.”

“You’re still using star-crossed lovers wrong but I’ll forgive it because it’s sweet,” Gina giggles, almost tripping over a lift in the sidewalk, “And because I agree.”

He hums in response, tilting his right ear to his shoulder, a happy little tick Gina had noticed he’d do every now and then. She commits the motion to memory, attached the feeling that swoops in her chest to it, keeps it locked up for a rainy day and blue clouds.

“Are we walking anywhere in particular right now?” She voices the question that’s been on her mind for a minute, even though she knows what she hopes the answer is.

“I don’t think so,” he smiles, “Only because we probably would have had more time together if we stayed at the party, so I’m just trying to be fair to the fates that brought us together. Give them the whole allotted time to see their successes, ya know?”

“Right,” and because it is exactly the answer she’d wanted, in that dumb dorky way of his she’d already become so fond of, she swings them to a stop in front of a flickering orange-faded streetlight on the outskirts of campus, “If I was gonna get dumped so quick, maybe we should have just stayed at the party.”

“I didn’t say I wanted to dump you—”

“I mean, at least if we were still _there_ ,” she rocks on her left toe, ponders an exaggerated thought as she cuts him off, “I could have used a lot of really bad fake excuses to stay close to you.”

“Oh yeah?” He asks, all flustered and adorable, but still kind of knowing. He reads her like a book, and it isn’t scary, it’s reassuring. Gina eases closer to him, her nose scrunching in a giggle, “And what would those be?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” she looks up, uses her free hand to count off a list with her fingers, “I could’ve asked you to dance even though I know you have two left feet, or I could’ve stolen your drink…”

“Cause I know how much you love doing shots.”

“Yeah, you know me,” she shrugs, then continues, “I could’ve complained, made us hide in a corner or the hallway, asked to get some air, held your hand so I didn’t lose you in the crowd, pretended I could not hear you over the music so we just _had_ to get closer.”

The nighttime air is suddenly thick and heavy with a feeling Gina’s never held before.

“And?”

“And.”

Something floats between them, something there isn’t a word for, as they stand there, under a flickering streetlight and sky with star-crossed stars and airplanes and almost empty streets with yellow tightrope lines and cartwheels. She can hear her heartbeat ringing in her ears as she stands, staring at those eyes who have known hers for a lifetime and mere minutes all at once.

Better than any love story she could have expected. Low, high, anywhere in between. This surpasses them all.

She’s not sure how long they end up standing there staring at each other, and honestly, she’s already lived just about every romantic fantasy that ever resided in Gina Porter’s magic fantasy romance land. So screw it, she thinks, she can burst the bubble just this once.

“Okay Romeo, you gonna kiss me or what?”

And with one more giggle, he finally does.

He finds her lips almost instantly, Gina’s whole body relaxing into his as he pulls her in close by her hips and she slings her arms around his neck, her eyes fluttering shut under the soft glow of the streetlight.

She fits so perfectly into him, she falls in love with love all over again.

He commits, she’ll give him that, because he does the whole thing in the most cheerily romantic way Gina’s ever been kissed, with a dip and everything.

She’s gasping on his lips when she feels her weight shift, but he doesn’t let her get far, easing back into kissing her again, and good lord, she can almost feel her foot popping.

They’re not even good kisses really, Gina finds herself noticing, because neither of them can stop giggling like they had been all night. He doesn’t wanna stop kissing her though, he’s determined, so he peppers soft pecks anywhere he can reach, her giggle tickling his neck and the little crease between his eyebrows, on his nose and over his lips, kiss after kiss after kiss.

It’s the most joyous way to kiss someone, and she’s suddenly very certain she’ll never want to kiss anyone else any other way. She pulls herself impossibly closer to him, tries to keep her giddy laughter to herself to slip a proper kiss in there, and manages one for a good few seconds before Ricky’s fingers dance on her hips and make her squirm in laughing protest. He swoops back in, breathless and full of a light no frat party could ever get to hang on their walls, and Gina kisses him again and again.

She feels so off balance, all wacky and wonderful, unsteady on her feet as he keeps trying out moves fit for a Shakespearian love interest, but more sure of everything than she’s ever felt about anything in her life.

“I’ll run away anywhere with you,” he manages to whisper, no laughter, just a smile Gina doesn’t think she’ll ever forget.

“Cool,” she breathes out, “So, you wanna run with me to get late-night pizza?”

“Pizza?” He leans back from her just slightly, eyebrows furrowed.

“Well yeah,” she shrugs, pulls their hands down together between them, interlocked and swinging slightly, “Because after that I’m gonna run you back to the dorm room I get to myself all night, and I’m a classy girl, Romeo, let me at least buy you dinner first.”

He laughs so loudly a student passing by, the first one Gina’s really noticed the entire night, shushes them, and she giggles as he pulls her into his chest to stifle their lingering laughter.

She’s focused on breathing in the warm scent of his sweater, but Ricky’s head follows the student by them, “Oh my god, Gina, I know that kid. Shit, he was bio lab partner!”

“No way!” She laughs into his shoulder before grabbing his hand and pulling him away, “Let’s thank him for the stargazing spot.”

“Let’s not!” He yells, tugging her in the opposite direction, towards the front gates of campus again, “Pizza this way, I was promised pizza.”

“You bring the stars, I got the pizza,” she runs behind him, out into the world they’ve created for themselves.

“Sure you don’t wanna be my star-crossed lover, Juliet?”

“Nah,” she shakes her head, her curls bouncing against him as she catches up, lands in time with him as they pass through the gates, “Kinda like having you right here.”

“To the pizza!” He dips and kisses her on her forehead, and then they’re off.

Oh, to be young and in love.

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi to me on twitter! @pecuIiarblue


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